Help to lift a carpet please.

tori.k

I have to replace a openplanned living space carpet in the family owned rental we live in, it's an expensive carpet and in good condition barr a burn mark by the woodstove. It a like for like replacement using the same underlay and gripper rods threshold. The fitters offer a lift and removal charge of £50 which is fair enough, but we decided we would keep it and diy lay it in new house for few months while the plaster is drying out and we can decorate. But the guys have said it's £50 to lift the carpet for us to keep. Which kinda doesn't sit right with me since they don't have to lift the carpet for removal or any disposal charge's ( they are company men not independent) so is it easy to lift a professionally laid carpet without damaging the rods and thresholds or am I best sucking up the £50 charge. Carpet already costing me £1300 and with the new house needing a bit of work we are trying to keep the price down.
Many thanks

greatgimpo

If you can manage the weight, it'll be easy to lift with no damage to the fittings and gripper, and minimal to the carpet.

exiled_red

It depends on the carpet and how it is fitted, if there are a nails through it or it is foam backed you could have a problem. Most carpet though you can usually just get something thin between the wall an the carpet and use this to lift the corner. Once you get a corner up it should be fairly straight forward to lift the whole thing as it is only held in place by the gripper rods around the walls.

tori.k

I should of added a how do we ?the thresholds have no screws so I'm guessing you just prise them off, big flat screwdriver? Weight hopefully shouldn't be to much an issues as we intend to cut into two 5x5 meter carpets as we go. Not foam backed hessian/action whatever that is.

greatgimpo

No, leave the bars in position, and wiggle the carpet out.

tori.k

Blinking professionals just been round the room there is nowhere you will get a grip to be able to lift around the edges, they do do a fantastic job I will just suck up the £50 rather than risk having to replace gripper rods and thresholds but forgo the legendary bacon rolls I usually make to fuel the worker, there loss thanks everyone

glennevis

I watched a carpet fitter lift the corner of my carpet. He just stabbed it with a stanley knife at a fairly shallow angle a few inches from the corner, then twisted and lifted. It came away easily enough. Worth a try?

Le_Kirk

Use a pair of pliers to grip the carpet in a corner and lift it. Once it has started to come off the gripper rods it will be easy. Just make sure you don't lift the grippers (normally nailed) else you could get a charge for the fitters having to fit new ones.

exiled_red

Sometimes if the carpet is folded back and thicker around the edges standing near to the corner can cause it to lift a little this happens with some o my carpets (although that could be because the aren't as well fitted as yours.

You could also try lifting the carpet at the threshold joints in the doorway again try using something thin at an edge, usually the carpet edge won't be that far under the lip on the threshold. Sometimes grabing the carpet a few inches away from the threshold and trying to lift it there while wedging something in to get it off the thres hold helps.

As a last resort you could try cutting a bit out from near the edge, but as you want to re-use the carpet you need to think carefully about where you would do this (I assume the room it is going to be relaid in is smaller than the current room and that features such as doorway will be in different places, that being the case if I were to do that I would try a bit in the door way where the carpet is slightly wider so that you keep the main bit square) As I say this is a last resort and whether you do it or not depends how desperate you are to save £50

Wassa123

If you dont want the whole thing cut a small cut near the edge to get your fingers in and just pull. This is how we removed our old carpet.

Also you wouldn't be liable to pay to replace the old carpet for a brand new one as the landlord isn't entitled to a brand new one.

firefox1956

Agree with the pair of pliers idea.
Always works for me.
HTH